Sunday, February 26, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ.Amen.

Last week, we came to know that, when it
comes to the Kingdom of God, only the deaf will be able to hear. This week, the
blind man sees what the Twelve cannot see. He sees that everything depends on
the mercy of God. He sees that, whatever the Lord does—even the things that
seem absurd to us, even the most painful things, even the things that feel so unmerciful—all
things work together for good to those who love Him and hold to His mercy. And
so the blind man sits by the road begging for Jesus, the Son of David, to have
mercy on him.

His plea is the Church’s plea. His prayer is
our prayer. So we join the blind man when we cry out at the beginning of the
Divine Service, “Lord, have mercy!” We are headed to the grave and feel the
weight of sin and death. Yet it’s not just our prayer. The saints of old and,
indeed, the whole heavenly host, also sing the same prayer. After all, the
Lord’s mercy brought the world and all life into existence. The Lord’s mercy
sustains us amidst joys and sorrows. The Lord’s mercy gives us hope for the
fullness of heaven. The Lord’s mercy is not simply His kindness, His favor, His
goodwill and affection, for the Lord in mercy wills to have us live in Him with
an intimacy that is exceeded only by the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity. In
a word, the Lord’s mercy is communion—Him living within us, making His home in
us, living His life through us, and, in turn, His creation made from the dust
of His earth lives and dwells in Him.

So what is the blind man begging for? He
wants to see—but not that he might have earthly sight. He wants to see and know
that this Lord Jesus is truly the Father’s well-beloved Son who has come into
the world to restore that intimacy and communion with God that was broken and
severed by Adam. The blind man doesn’t just want to see so he can look at
disease and suffering and death. The blind man wants to see Jesus. So he
doesn’t first say, “Lord, let me see. Lord, heal me.” That might be our selfish
prayer. But instead, the blind man cries out, “Lord, have mercy.” Restore to me
the joy of Your salvation. Restore me to communion with You and Your Father.

For the blind man, that communion with God
begins with Jesus opening his eyes. How can Our Lord restore our relationship with
Him if He does not also restore us according to His original design? How can He
restore our souls if He does not also renew our bodies? And how can He
re-establish our participation in His holiness if He does not also release us
from our bondage to sin and death? So He gives the blind man back His sight as
a sign of what will be. He also heals the lame, cleanses lepers, gives hearing
to the deaf, raises the dead, and preaches the Gospel to the poor—and all as a
sign that His mercy reverses the evil and chaos that Satan planted.

That reversal doesn’t take place, however,
with a few miracles. Where the curse is overturned and death undone; where the
full restoration begins; where the prayers of heaven and earth are answered;
where the Lord’s mercy is fully seen—this happens when the Son of Man is
delivered into the hands of sinners, when He is mocked and spit upon, when He
is scourged and killed by them, and then rises on the third day. That Passion
of the Christ is the fullness and gift of the Lord’s mercy. And the body and
blood of that sacrificed and resurrected Jesus, given from the altar, is the
restoration of the communion which our Father created us to have with Him.

So it is necessary for the Son of Man to go
up to Jerusalem—but not to put a dramatic finishing touch on His life, nor
merely to give an example of self-sacrifice and unselfish love. It is necessary
to accomplish the Lord’s mercy with such finality that the devil and all hell
cannot undo it. Our Lord Jesus does not shrink away. He set His face toward
Jerusalem. And we go with Him, our eyes opened to see our Savior as He delivers
true mercy to us. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of
the Holy Spirit.Amen.

The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always.Amen.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ.Amen.

“He
who has ears to hear, let him hear!” What an odd thing to say. After all,
most people have ears, and most people who have ears are able to hear. But
“ears to hear” aren’t made of cartilage and skin. “Ears to hear” only hear when they have been stopped to the
babbling of the world. In the Kingdom
of God, only the deaf can
hear. In the Kingdom
of God, only the blind
can see. In the Kingdom
of God, only the fool
will believe.

God hides Himself in
parables. Simple words conceal God’s message from men too proud to see that He
doesn’t work the way they work. But that is precisely the point: God is not
like us. This is baffling to the worldly wise. He sows His seed in foolish, impossible
places, with no thought of gain or loss, only conscious that the seed is good
and men are in need. He sows on the trodden path, the rocky patch, the thorny
ground, into the deaf ear, the blind eye, and the hard heart. He sows where no
drunken farmer in his darkest hour ever sowed.

Most
is lost. Most is trampled, snatched, withered, or choked. Most is wasted. This
Sower is more inefficient than the government! But still the Sower sows. It’s
His seed to sow as He sees fit. He never counts the cost. He does not sow for
profit. He does not sow for fame, honor, or prestige. He sows because men are in
need. He sows because He is love. He sows in ways that men think foolish, for
He provides, gives, and loves for free.

The
seed finds the earth—miserable, scorched, dry, rocky ground though it be. Miraculously
some grows! Some transforms that trodden, rocky, thorny place into soil rich
enough to bear a crop a hundredfold! It grew to life in dark corners where men
had given up and moved on. It bestowed wisdom in the midst of foolishness. Always
it bears a crop—just not where men think it ought. For this Kingdom is not
ruled in the ways of men. It is a Kingdom of grace, bestowed without thought to
cost or fear of failure, motivated by perfect love. The Seed, the Holy Word of
God, our Lord Jesus Christ, never returns to the Father void. He completes the
good work that He was sent to do: He saves the world. He forgives sins. He
loves men. He sows. And what He sows is the power of God for salvation. And
though it seems wasted, what He sows changes lives. He never leaves things just
as He found them. It is the Word, the creative force of God Himself.

This
same Word called forth a Messiah into Mary’s womb through her ear. This same
Word called forth a water of renewal and regeneration in John’s timid washing
of the Christ. All who are joined to Him in those burial waters are His sons in
whom He is well-pleased. Their sins wash off of them and onto Him, and He
raises them up again to life. This same Word calls forth His true body and blood
out of ordinary bread and wine. His people eat and drink and proclaim His death
until He comes again. This same Word calls forth a holy nation from sinful
people. You worship one Lord, and you know that, whatever the future brings,
this is not your home.

You
are the hundredfold harvest of grace. He transformed you by His Word, watered
you with His Blood, sheltered you in His love so that you grow and live. By the
power of His unfailing Word, you are His own, His beloved, His precious,
spotless Bride. He has placed His Word into you. And by that Word you live.
Soon He will return to bring the harvest home, to complete what He has begun in
you. “He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.” In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always.Amen.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’ve said this before, but the
Kingdom of heaven is always like a person. It is not like the Roman Empire, the
city states of Greece, or
even the United States.
It is not at all like the kingdoms of men. It is not like any group or
organization. The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner. It is like a man, a
person. That is because it is the Man, Jesus Christ.

The Man Jesus, body and soul, is
the King and the Kingdom. He is no mere man, for He is also God. He does not rule
in the ways of men. He neither commits violence nor threatens violence. Nor is
He King by popular acclaim or vote. He has not seized the throne in any way. He
just is. He has the right to rule anyway He chooses. But He chooses to rule
through generosity, like a landowner who overpays, who gives away the Kingdom
to greedy souls that hate Him and seek His destruction, to those who betray and
forget Him. He bears the heat of the day, the burdens of all humanity, on His
outstretched arms. He is thirsty, hungry, and dying so that men would be spared
the eternal damnation they had earned. He defeats the devil and breaks you out
of Hell. He declares you innocent and adopts you as His.

It is hard for us to imagine
because we know what we are like, and we are not like that. Our kingdoms are
not of grace. Our wisdom states: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Our
wisdom states, “You get what you pay for.” Mothers always remind their
children, “Life is not fair.” Yeah, that helps! So much for the wisdom of men.

The Truth is that Life is not fair—but
not in the way that your mother meant it. He who is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life is not fair. He is driven by a Justice that exceeds man’s limitations and
imagination. He is not fair in His punishments or chastisements. Instead, He is
merciful and kind. He bears the burdens for men in Himself. For even though it
isn’t fair, even though we should pay for our sins and die the death we’ve
deserved, He has done it for us, in our place, as our perfect and holy Substitute.
It isn’t fair. But it is generous and wonderful. The Kingdom of God
is a kingdom of grace and reversals. The last are first. Those without right to
demand, those without resources or hope, eat and drink without money or cost.
You who were dead are made alive.

We’d like to end there, but the
parable keeps going. After all, the Kingdom of heaven exists in this world, and
this world is hostile. The grace of God is always rejected by sinful men.
Fallen men want to tell God how to dole out His goods. The landowner’s final
verdict is a sad one: “Take what is yours
and go your way.” What belongs to us by nature? Death. What is our way when we act according to our nature? Hell. Repent.
For we have dared to complain that the generosity and grace of God is not good
enough, not generous enough. We have dared to challenge the purity of God’s
motives. We have blamed Him for wars and famines and disease and heartache in
our world. We have complained against Him as though we deserved more. We’ve hid
our light under a bushel. God forbid we should be so vain as to reject the
gifts of God as not enough!

The hour is now. Salvation is upon
us. For a time you will suffer. Your heart will grow weary. You will be
attacked by temptations of doubt and fear. But nothing will overcome you. The
Lord Jesus has claimed you. He works in own way and time but always for your
good. It is already the eleventh hour. Soon you shall be relieved at last of
the world, the devil, and your old sinful nature. For Jesus Christ did not die
in vain. He does not lie. He has not forgotten you. He loves you and forgives
you. Easter is coming. The dead, even you, will rise again. The Kingdom of God belongs to you. In the name of the
Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Monday, February 06, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.Amen

Being a disciple
of Jesus is not necessarily pleasant. It’s not because He makes it hard. And
it’s not because Jesus designed it so that only the strongest or the most
dedicated make it to the heavenly goal. Being a disciple of Jesus is not
pleasant because it means that you must live amid the various assaults of the
devil who finds ready accomplices with the world and our sinful, unbelieving
desires. These assaults are numerous, and they are different for each of you: a
persistent sin or addiction; pride and self-serving ambition; disease; mental
torment; spiritual anguish. But in whatever way the devil assaults or entices
you, whatever method he employs specifically and personally against you, his
goal is always the same—to mislead you into false belief, despair, and other
great shame and vice. And when he accomplishes that, then the devil has
achieved his goal. Because he has been excommunicated from God, he wants to
break your communion in God.

Yet from the
beginning, you were created in God's image and according to His likeness so
that you might live not for yourself, but in Him, so your life in Christ might
continually grow and mature. Imagine a relationship that never ends; a love
that constantly deepens and intensifies; and intimacy that becomes more and
more intimate. And imagine living so closely with someone that he or she not
only knows what you're thinking, not only dotes on your every desire, but also
betters and improves you, and gives you the undying desire to live only and
completely and self-sacrificially for him. That is what Our Lord God had in
mind when He created you, and that is what He still has in mind for you in
spite of your unshakeable refusal to trust Him, to leave everything in His
hands, and to live for Him by doing unquestionably for others.

To restore this
goal, and to restore in you the joy of His salvation, the Father sent His Son
into the world to live in your flesh. He came to destroy death and the devil.
Resisting a temptation or two would not do that. The Son of Man would have to
go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
bekilled, and be raised again on the
third day.

When Peter first
heard Jesus announce this, the devil took hold of him so that Peter rebuked his
Lord and Savior. “This shall not happen
to You.” And Jesus responded, “Get
behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the
things of God, but the things of men.” Sinners are well acquainted with the
things of men: living in constant fear of death; fear of being cheated and used;
fear of failure. Sinners live as if life is what you make of it. And ultimately,
we live as if we matter most, as if heaven can wait. But the things of God we
do not instinctively know, nor do we readily seek them. He must reveal them to
us. And He does that, not so we are wowed and amazed, but so that we might
yearn for them—so that we might seek the Life He is, the Life He gives, the
Life He so earnestly desires to live in us while we live in Him.

Certainly, we can
see the things of God in the simple miracles of life. And we've heard from the
Scriptures many descriptions of the heavenly life—the life of this ongoing,
undying, unquenchable relationship and communion in God. But the Lord has
actually given a glimpse of the fullness of heavenly glory: when He hid Moses
in a cleft of the rock and let Moses see the backside of His glory; when Elisha
saw Elijah ascend up to heaven in a fiery chariot; and when Jesus led Peter,
James, and John on a high mountain and was transfigured before them, His face shining
like the sun, His clothes as white as the light.

But what good does
that do us? They beheld His glory face to face, but we see Our Lord Jesus
dimly, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament and apparent only in the voice of the
pastor. But what the three disciples saw was a promise: the promise that the
Lord's transfiguration was merely a glimpse of what would always be, the
promise that, by hearing the beloved Son of God, we might one day live within
the transfiguration that never fades. So we do not dismiss this Gospel as just
another Jesus story. In faith, we hear of our Lord's transfiguration, and we
are given both courage and hope—the courage to live the Christian life, and the
hope that fully expects to see Our Lord Jesus as they did.

For now, we walk
through temptation and suffering, through heartache and grief, to death and the
grave. Yet we do not lose heart. For we have Peter's word that soon, and very
soon, we will not only see but also live fully and forever within the
transfigured body of Our Lord. Now we have a glimpse of it at every Holy Supper.
But the day is coming when we will no longer imagine, but will truly experience
that relationship, that union and that intimacy in God that He first created us
for, and that He sent His Son to restore in us. For Our Lord has made this
promise: “Surely, I am coming soon.”
And we await that day saying, “Even so,
come, Lord Jesus!” In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the
Holy Spirit.Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.Amen.

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sinners that we are, we take comfort and even rejoice when those we see as the
best among us succumb to temptation, when their insecurities and fears are
revealed, when their weakness is evident. When pastors stumble; when Hollywood’s biggest star
falls on the red carpet; when our boss finally gets it from his boss; when the
rich and famous go through hard times—we find that comforting. “You see?
They’re human too. They’re just like us.” And perhaps that’s what you’re
tempted to say when today’s Gospel exposes the fear within the disciples. They
cry out, “Lord, save us; we’re
perishing!”—and we want to say, “See, they really are human. They’re just
like us.”

But really, we shouldn’t want them to be like us—at least,
not when we are at our weakest, our most afraid, our most insecure, our least
believing. Why would we wish that on anyone? And while we can identify with
their fear, why should it comfort us to see that these holy men are really no
different from us? To be sure, when the Lord helps them, we come to believe
that the Lord will also help us. But why do we rejoice in the weakness,
downfall, or the shame of any man or woman?

When the disciples tremble and shudder in fear, that is not
true humanity. After all, we were created not to cower, but to trust; not to
quake, but to be confident; not to tremble in fear, but to stand firm in faith.
We were made by Our Father to be so secure in His love that we would not even
know what insecurity is. Yet we are insecure. We do fear. We easily doubt and
have second thoughts. We are quick to give in to the temptation to take matters
into our own hands.

Taking matters into their own hands, the disciples come to
Jesus and shake Him awake and announce their certain doom. But they do not
realize that the Man they are shaking, He is the true human, for He alone rests
in peace and is confident that the Lord’s mercy will see them through, whatever
they face. They don’t realize that the Man with them in the boat is God Himself:
the God who turned water to wine; the God who healed the leper and the
centurion’s son; the God before whom kings prostrated themselves; the God
through whom all things were made. Surely they know this; otherwise they
wouldn’t wake Him and yell at Him to do something. In their heads, they know
better. In their hearts, they hope for better. But as they sit frantically in the
boat, these disciples are run by their fears. And in this, they are most
definitely not being
human.

And neither are we
when we let our fears run us. But we do let our fears reign over us. We lash
out at each other. We hold grudges. We let our passions run wild. We live for
the moment. Our fears lead us to run over whoever is in our way without
extending the kindness we so often demand. And our fears keep us awake at night
so that we don’t rest in the peace of the Lord who is with us always.

But there is another way. There is the way of faith in the
face of fears; the way of confidence in the Lord’s undying mercy; the way of
the hope which allows the child of God to confesses that, whatever trials and
struggles and temptations we face, our Lord will not abandon us. This is the
way of Holy Baptism, where the same water which caused the disciples to fear
actually calms the storm of sin within us. This is the way of Holy Absolution,
where we return to those waters every day to drown the Old Adam with his fear
and weakness and doubt. This is the way of the Lord’s Supper, where He is
present with us, where He strengthens us to go back out into the world and face
those trials and temptations, knowing He faces them with us.

Let us never forget that Our Lord is merciful. Let us never
forget that He is always quick to rescue and save us. Let us never forget that
He has already delivered us from every evil: past, present, and yet to come.
And with this faith, let us not fear, no matter what the days ahead may bring. Rather,
let us be bold in Our Lord Jesus Christ, who will never fail to calm the storm:
the storm that rages outside, and the storm that rages within us. In the name
of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always. Amen.